High times here for Hayden Homes

One would imagine that the fall of 2008, now remembered as the start of a major economic downturn in the U.S. and abroad, would have been a terrible time to begin a new housing development. But in the case of Redmond-based developer Hayden Homes and Riverwalk, the 73-home Cottage Grove subdivision that opened with a ribbon cutting in November of 2008, the disturbing trends of falling prices and dwindling construction have apparently been bucked. And the company has reason to believe that even better days may lie ahead.

“Hayden Homes has been very fortunate to have made it through the economic downturn and continued to do well,” said Bonnie Hauck, the Community Manager and Principal Broker at Riverwalk, which is bordered on the south by Harrison Street and on the west by the Coast Fork of the Willamette River.

Hauck added that she believes this month’s sales figures may break a record for Hayden Homes, whose founder, Robert Watson, began the company in 1989 as a way to provide high-quality homes at affordable prices, according to company literature.

In Cottage Grove, Hayden Homes is currently building seven homes at Riverwalk, a number that City Planner Amanda Ferguson said would have been exceptional even before the economic downturn.

“In multiple communities, it looks like Hayden is carrying the housing market through the recession,” Ferguson said.